Strip fitting tools

ABSTRACT

A portable tool for fitting a channel-shaped sealing, trimming or guiding strip onto a mounting flange comprises a gear box having an input shaft rotated by suitable motor and which drives two rollers in contra-rotating directions about respective axes. When the motor is energized to contra-rotate the rollers, the tool is driven along the strip and the rollers force the sides of the channel of the strip into tight frictional contact with the flange. The axis of one of the rollers is fixed in relation to the tool body. The other roller is mounted on a sub-frame so that its axis can pivot about a pivot axis which intersects with the rotation axis of that roller. The tool also includes a third roller for engaging the outside of the inverted base of the channel.

The invention relates to a tool for fitting a channel-shaped strip intoan embracing frictional position on a mount, comprising a tool body,first and second main rollers mounted side-by-side on the body forrotation about respective first and second axes and for receiving thestrip in the gap between them and for exerting a force tending to pressthe side walls of the channel of the strip towards the mount as therollers rotate and the tool travels along the strip on the mount, thefirst and second rollers being relatively movable away from and towardseach other and the first axis being fixed in relation to the body.

The invention also relates to a method of fitting a channel-shaped stripinto a frictionally embracing position on a longitudinally extendingmount which has first and second oppositely directed longitudinal facesthe first of which is substantially smooth and planar and the second ofwhich has local disruptions which change the thickness of the mount,comprising the steps of fitting the channel of the strip embracinglyover the flange, applying sideways-directed forces to the outsides ofthe side walls of the channel by means of first and second side-by-siderollers carried by a tool body and which contra-rotate about respectivefirst and second axes and through the gap between which the strip passesin contact with the rollers, the first axis being fixed in relation tothe tool body and the first roller applying its force to the outside ofthe side wall of the channel on the first face of the mount.

Such a tool and such a method are shown in GB-A-2 215 762. In the toolthere shown, the second roller can be moved towards and away from thefirst roller by a mechanism which maintains the axes of the two rollersparallel to each other. This requires a relatively complex mechanism,the movement of the second roller away from the first roller beingcarried out by means of a manually rotated screw or similar arrangement.However, it may be desirable to arrange for the second roller to moveaway from the first roller automatically, such as in response tovariation in thickness of the mount.

Accordingly, the tool as first set forth above is characterised in thatthe second axis is angularly pivotal, with the second roller, relativeto the body about a predetermined pivot axis.

According to the invention, also, the method as first set forth above ischaracterised in that the second roller is pivotal against a spring biasthrough a predetermined angular distance relative to the first rollerabout a predetermined pivot axis whereby to accommodate local variationsin thickness along the length of the mount as the tool travels along thestrip on the mount while the rollers contra-rotate.

Tools and methods according to the invention, and for use in fittingsealing, trimming or finishing strips to motor vehicle bodies, will nowbe described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanyingdiagrammatic drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-section through a sealing, trimming or finishing stripshowing it fitted onto a motor vehicle body, such as around the frame ofa door opening;

FIG. 2 shows the strip of FIG. 1 during an initial stage of the fittingprocess;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of one of the tools, for use in fitting theseal of FIGS. 1 and 2 in position;

FIG. 4 is a front elevation of the lower part of the tool of FIG. 3,taken in the direction of the arrow IV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a cross-section on the line V—V of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-section on the line VI—VI of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3 but showing the tool in use;

FIG. 8 is a partial view corresponding to FIG. 5 but modified to explaina feature of the tool;

FIG. 9 is a view corresponding to FIG. 4 but showing another of thetools; and

FIG. 10 is a cross-section on the line X—X of FIG. 9.

As shown in FIG. 1, a sealing, trimming or finishing strip 10 comprisesa gripping part 12, a sealing part 14 and a so-called “cosmetic lip” 16.The gripping part 12 is channel-shaped and is advantageously extrudedfrom plastics or rubber or similar material 18. The extruded material 18has integral inwardly directed gripping lips 20, there being in thisexample two relatively large lips on one inside wall of the channel andthree smaller lips on the opposite side; however, the number and sizesof the lips can be varied. In addition, the gripping part 12incorporates a channel-shaped reinforcing carrier 22, advantageouslymade of metal or other resilient material. The carrier may comprise aplurality of U-shaped elements arranged side-by-side to define thechannel and connected together by short integral connecting links orentirely disconnected from each other. Instead, wire looped to and fromay be used to form the carrier. Other forms of carrier are possible.Advantageously, the carrier 22 is incorporated into the extrudedmaterial 18 using a cross-head extruder.

The gripping part 12 embracingly grips a mounting flange 24, such asforming the frame of a door opening in the motor vehicle body. Theflange 24 may be formed where inner and outer body panels 26 and 28 arebrought together at the door opening and welded to each other. Thegripping part 12 tightly grips the flange 24, the lips 20 frictionallycontacting the opposite faces of the flange. For this purpose, thematerial of the lips is advantageously softer than the remainder of theextruded material of the gripping part to provide an increasedcoefficient of friction.

The sealing part 14 is mounted on one outside wall of the channel of thegripping part 12 and, in this example, is of hollow tubular form. It isadvantageously extruded from plastics or rubber or similar material butis softer than the extruded material 18 of the gripping part 12. Forexample, the sealing part 14 may be extruded from cellular material. Itmay be co-extruded with the material 18 or formed separately andadhesively or otherwise secured to the gripping part 12. When thegripping part 12 is mounted on the flange 24 in the manner shown, thesealing part 14 runs around the frame of the door opening facingoutwardly of the vehicle so as to be partially compressed by the closingdoor thus forming a weatherproof seal.

The cosmetic lip 16 is advantageously co-extruded with the material 18.When the gripping part 12 is mounted in position on the flange 24, thecosmetic lip is positioned on the inside of the vehicle, running aroundthe frame of the opening, and is used to cover, and partially secure,the edge of the vehicle trim on the inside of the vehicle and adjacentto the door opening.

FIG. 2 shows the manner in which the sealing strip 10 is mounted on theflange 24. As shown, the gripping part 12 is supplied to the vehiclemanufacturer with the side walls of the channel splayed outwardlyrelative to each other. In this way, the fitter on the assembly line caneasily position the gripping part on the flange 24 because the channelmouth is much wider than the width of the flange. Thereafter, using thetool to be described in more detail below, the splayed-apart side wallsof the gripping part are pressed towards each other so as to force them,and the lips 20, into tight frictional gripping contact with theflanges×and thus into the configuration shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the tool shown there comprises a motor 30such as an air motor driven by compressed air. The motor 30 is connectedto a gearbox 32 by a mounting bracket 34. The gearbox 32 supports a maintool body or output unit 36 from which rotatably extend two main rollers38 and 40. The rollers 38 and 40 are arranged to be rotatable aroundrespective axes shown dotted at 42 and 44. Via the gearbox 32, theoutput shaft (not shown) of the air motor 30 drives the rollers 38 and40 to rotate in opposite directions about these axes.

The output unit 36 also carries a roller support 46 which has twooppositely facing jaws 48 and 50 between which is rotatably mounted athird or “top” roller 52 which is undriven.

FIGS. 4 to 8 omit the bracket 34 and the air motor 30.

FIG. 5 shows the internal mechanism of the tool in more detail. Asshown, roller 38 is rotatably mounted in a bearing 54 and rigid with ashaft 56. The upper end of shaft 56 is fixed to a gear 58 and supportedin upper and lower bearings 60, 62. Gear 58 meshes with another gear 64carried by a shaft 66 which is rotatably supported in upper and lowerbearings 68, 70. Shaft 66 upwardly terminates in an end part 72 havingan open bore 74 of rectangular cross-section. The bore 74 receives acorrespondingly shaped male part at the end of the output shaft (notshown) from the air motor 30.

The lower end of the shaft 66 terminates in a yoke 76 having integraljaws 78 and 80.

Roller 40 is rotatably supported in a bearing 82. Bearing 82 is carriedin the end of a sub-frame 84. As best shown in FIG. 6, the sub-frame 84has integral arms 86 and 88 which extend respectively onto the front andrear faces of the output unit 36 and are pivotally connected thereto byrespective pivot pins 90 and 92 forming a pivot axis A. Roller 40 isintegral with a shaft 94 which is rigid with a yoke 96 (see FIGS. 5 and6) having jaws 98 and 100. The pair of jaws 78 and 80 of the yoke 76carried by the shaft 66 (FIG. 5) are linked to the jaws 98, 100 carriedby the yoke 96 of the shaft 94 (FIG. 6) by a spider (not shown) to forma universal joint.

As shown in FIG. 5, the sub-frame 84 is located within a right-angledrecess in the lower part of the output unit 36. This recess has asurface 108, against which the sub-frame 84 is pivotally urged aroundpivot axis A (see FIG. 4 and 6) by a compression spring 110 engaging apin 112. Pin 112 has its distal end 114 located in a correspondinglyshaped recess in an outwardly extending arm 116 of the sub-frame. Anadjustment screw 118 enables the force exerted by the spring 110 to beadjusted. As shown in FIG. 5, the axes 42 and 44 of the rollers 38 and40 are parallel when the sub-frame 84 is in contact with the face 108.It is not, however, essential that the axes 42 and 44 are parallel whenthe sub-frame 84 is in contact with the face 108.

In use, the strip 10, in the configuration shown in FIG. 2 is placedover the mounting flange 24. The tool is then placed over the strip 10on the flange so that the gripping part 12 (with its splayed-apart sidewalls), the sealing part 14 and the cosmetic lip 16, all becomepositioned in the space 119 between the side rollers 38 and 40 (seeFIGS. 3 and 5); it will be appreciated that the strip 10 shown in FIGS.1 and 2 is illustrated to a much larger scale than the scale of thetool. The tool is positioned over the strip 10 so that roller 38 is incontact with the outside of the cosmetic lip 16 and roller 40 is incontact with the outermost surface of the sealing part 14. During thisinitial positioning step, the force exerted on the two rollers 38 and 40by the compressed material of the strip 10 as it becomes forced into thegap 118 may cause the sub-frame 84 to pivot on the pivot axis A againstthe force of the spring 110. The roller 40 thus becomes slightlyinclined to the roller 38 as shown in FIG. 7. However, any suchpivotting movement will be small because the spring 110 is arranged toexert a strong force.

Typically, during initial positioning of the tool, the air motor 30 isalready energised. Roller 40 is therefore rotated via the upper shaft 66and the universal joint provided by the interconnected yokes 76 and 96.Corresponding rotation of the gear 64 causes roller 38 to be driven inthe opposite direction. Thus, the rollers 40 and 38 are already rotatingbefore coming into contact with the strip 10. Once the rollers are incontact with the strip, the tool is carried along the strip 10 on theflange 24, with the top roller 52 freely rotating on the outside of theinverted base of the gripping part 12 of the strip 10, the tool beingguided during its travel by the fitter. The tool may instead be guidedby a robot “hand”.

As the tool moves in this way along the strip on the flange, the rollers38, 40 have the effect of forcing the splayed-apart side walls of thegripping part 12 towards the flange 24 so that the lips 20 make tightfrictional contact with the flange. During this process, the grippingpart 12 is similarly re-configured and ensures that, as the tool passeseach particular point along the length of the strip 10, the grippingpart 12 maintains its new configuration which corresponds to that shownin FIG. 1 and in which the strip is held securely on the flange.

Although FIGS. 1 and 2 show the flange 24 as comprising two contactingbody panels 26 and 28, there may be positions along the frame of thedoor opening where, locally, the flange comprises more than twocontacting panels. This will therefore cause a local variation inthickness of the flange 24. There may be other reasons why the thicknessof the flange 24 varies locally along the periphery of the door opening:there may be a local variation in the thickness of one or more of thebody panels for example, and the welding points may also cause thicknessvariations. However, the tool is able to accommodate such variations inflange thickness because the roller 40 can pivot away from the roller38, as shown in FIG. 7, when the within the gap 119 becomes increased bya local increase in thickness of the flange 24 and overcomes the forceexerted by the spring 110. The ability of the roller 40 to pivot in thisway ensures that any local increase in flange thickness does not causean excessively damaging force to be exerted by the rollers on the strip10 both at the beginning and during the tool's travel along the strip10.

An important feature of the tool is that the axis 42 of the roller 38 isfixed relative to the tool: in other words, the axis of only one of therollers (roller 40) can pivot with respect to the main body of the tool.Normally, the inside face of the flange 24 (that is, the face on theinside of the vehicle and corresponding to the side of the channel ofthe gripping portion 12 from which extends the cosmetic lip 16) issmooth. The local variations in thickness normally occur on the outerface of the flange 24. Therefore, the tool is positioned in use so thatthe roller 38, with its fixed axis 42, engages the part of the strip 10on the inside (smooth) face of the flange 24—that is, roller 38 engagesthe cosmetic lip 16. The tool is therefore driven around the flange sothat the body of the tool, except for the pivotted sub-frame 84,maintains a fixed position in relation to the plane of the inside faceof the flange 24. In the manner explained, the local variations inflange thickness are accommodated by pivotting movement of the sub-frame84 and consequent angular movement of the axis of the roller 40 withrespect to the axis of the roller 38. Such an arrangement is found toensure that a substantially constant sideways clamping force is appliedto the sealing strip 10 around the periphery of the door opening inspite of local variations of flange thickness. It is also found to givebetter results than would be obtained with an arrangement in which theaxes of both of the rollers 38 and 40 can pivot relative to the mainbody of the tool. In such an arrangement, positive location of the mainbody of the tool with reference to the flange 24 cannot be ensured.

It will be appreciated that if, for example, the outer face of theflange 24 were smooth and the inner face had local variations inthickness, the tool would be arranged instead to have the fixed axisroller engage the part of the strip 10 on the outside face of the flange24.

Another significant feature of the tool is that the pivot axis A of thesub-frame 84 intersects the axis 44. This ensures that translationalmovement of roller 40 in the directions X (see FIG. 5)—that is, alongthe length of the axis 44—when the sub-frame 84 pivots is minimised.

This is better illustrated in FIG. 8. In FIG. 8, the curved line B showsthe position of the distal end of the roller 40 as the sub-frame 84pivots about the axis A.

FIG. 8 also illustrates two alternative positions C and D for the pivotaxis of the sub-frame 84. Curved dotted line E shows the position whichwould be assumed by the distal end of the roller 40 as the sub-frame 84pivots about the axis C, while the curved dotted line F shows theposition which would be assumed by the distal end of the roller 40 ifthe sub-frame 84 pivotted about the axis D. The dotted lines E and F ineach case show how the distal end of the roller 40 (and thus, of course,the remainder of the roller as well) would move by a greater distance inthe directions X if the pivot axis of the sub-frame 84 were to bepositioned at C or D than when it is located at A.

It will be appreciated that many alterations can be made to themechanism for pivotally mounting the tool 40.

One such modification is shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 in which partscorresponding to those in the other Figures are similarly referenced. Inthe tool of FIGS. 9 and 10, the coil spring 110 of the tool of FIGS. 3-8is replaced by a leaf spring 120. As shown most clearly in FIG. 10, thebody 36 is modified to remove the pin 112, the coil spring 110 and theadjustment screw 118, and the bores in which they are housed, so as,instead, to provide a flat external surface 122 for the body 36. Thesub-frame 84 is also modified so that it, too, has a generally flatexternal surface 124. The leaf spring 120 is attached by bolts 126, 126to the surface 122 and by bolts 128, 128 to the surface 124 so as toextend between them. As shown in FIG. 10, the surface 124 is slightlyinclined with respect to the surface 122 so that, when the roller 40 isparallel to the roller 38, the leaf spring 120 is slightly bent. Thisprovides pre-stressing for the leaf spring 120, enabling its springconstant to be relatively low. When the roller 40 is pivotted about thepivot axis A, the surface 124 of the sub-frame 84 becomes more inclinedto the surface 122 so that this pivotting action is resiliently resistedby the leaf spring. Other modifications are shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. Forexample, the pivotal mounting of sub-frame 84 is simplified, because itis supported by the leaf spring 120 and resiliently connected by thatspring to the body 36. Roller support 46 is mounted in position by bolts130.

It will be appreciated that the tools illustrated may be used forfitting strips in which the sealing part 14 is mounted on the outside ofthe inverted base of the gripping part 12 instead of on one outside sidewall. In such a case, the top roller 52 will make contact with thesealing part. The tool shown may also be used to fit strips in whichthere is no sealing part 14 but only the cosmetic lip 16 or in whichthere is only the sealing part 14 or in which there is neither sealingpart nor cosmetic lip.

The rollers 38 and 40 can be arranged to be removable to enable them tobe replaced by rollers of different shape or size to suit differentlyshaped or sized strips 10.

What is claimed is:
 1. A tool for fitting a channel-shaped strip havinga base and side walls forming a channel into an embracing frictionalposition on a mount, said tool comprising: a tool body; first and secondmain rollers mounted side-by-side on the body for rotation aboutrespective first and second axes; spring-biassing means for biassing thesecond roller into a datum position in which the second axis issubstantially parallel to the first axis; a gap formed between the firstand second main rollers, the strip being received in the gap and thespring-biassing means causing the first and second rollers to exert aforce tending to press the side walls of the channel of the striptowards the mount as the rollers rotate and the tool travels along thestrip on the mount, the first and second rollers being relativelymovable away from and towards each other and the first axis being fixedin relation to the body, the second axis and the second roller beingangularly pivotal relative to the body about a predetermined pivot axis;and a drive mechanism for driving the first and second main rollers;wherein the spring-biassing means is spaced apart from the first andsecond main rollers and the driving mechanism therefor.
 2. A toolaccording to claim 1 wherein the pivot axis intersects the second axis.3. A tool according to claim 1 wherein the spring-biassing meanscomprises a coil spring.
 4. A tool according to claim 1 wherein thespring-biassing means comprises a leaf spring.
 5. A tool according toclaim 1 wherein the second roller is mounted on a sub-frame which ispivoted to the tool body about the pivot axis.
 6. A tool according toclaim 1 wherein the second roller is mounted on a sub-frame which ispivoted to the tool body about the pivot axis, and wherein the toolfurther comprises a spring-biassed member movably mounted on the toolbody and contacting part of the sub-frame for biassing the second rollerinto the datum position.
 7. A tool according to claim 6 wherein thespring-biassed member is biassed by a coil spring.
 8. A tool accordingto claim 1 wherein the second roller is mounted on a sub-frame which ispivoted to the tool body, and by a leaf spring attached to an externalsurface of the tool body and extending therefrom into contact with anadjacent external surface of the sub-frame whereby pivotal movement ofthe sub-frame away from a position corresponding to the datum positionof the second roller is resisted by resilient bending of the leafspring.
 9. A tool according to claim 8 wherein the leaf spring ispre-stressed when the sub-frame is in a position corresponding to thedatum position of the second roller.
 10. A tool according to claim 1further comprising first and second rotatable shafts carrying the firstand second rollers respectively, and the second shaft including aflexible joint to enable the second roller to pivot about the pivotaxis.
 11. A tool according to claim 10 further comprising motor meansmounted on the tool body for rotatably driving the first and secondshafts in opposite directions via said driving mechanism.
 12. A toolaccording to claim 1 further comprising a third roller mounted on thetool body for rotation about an axis perpendicular to the first axis formaking rotational contact with the strip as the tool moves along thestrip on the mount and exerting a force on the outside of the base ofthe channel.